Building a system of dams and reservoirs to control flooding, as well as to generate power, was the first task the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) completed in its beginning.
That said, Fannin County and its surrounding areas have seen a lot of heavy rainfall recently.
In fact, TVA Manager of the River Forecast Center James Everett explained that the Blue Ridge area has seen 7 to 9 inches of rain in the last half of March alone.
Monday, April 5, Blue Ridge Lake Dam was discharging around 2,650 cubic feet per second (cfs) of water each hour.
When there is significant rainfall, Everett said, “we use Blue Ridge Dam to store water, and so, when we get those big, heavy rains, we oftentimes shut down releases from the dam; we don’t generate power; we go to just minimum releases, and that helps communities, like Copperhill and McCaysville area, that helps keep, kind of, flow levels as low as we can there.”
Water from the dam has been discharged periodically throughout the day recently, and Blue Ridge Dam will be sluicing, or flowing freely, at 900 cfs until further notice as a result of all the recent rain.
Sluicing is released through sluiceways or outlets at the base of the dam.
Given the unpredictability of weather, water release schedules can change without notice, and large amounts of water could be discharged at any point.
Everett noted that the State of Tennessee actually regulates whether or not commercial outfitters can operate safely or not.
The state uses a threshold of 3,000 cfs, Everett said, and the Ocoee was above that threshold two weekends ago.
As a result, TVA did not perform a commercial release that weekend.
When commercial releases are not possible, TVA does consider implementing additional releases if the loss is significant enough, Everett said.
Lake levels in Blue Ridge are coming back down to normal, he said. “We were, about a week ago, about 5 to 7 feet above the normal pool level, and we’re now back a lot closer to that normal, kind of lake level that we’d typically see in April.”
The Chickamauga Dam near Chattanooga is a major indicator for TVA in regards to water flow in the upper Tennessee River system.
Depending on the time period and water volume, the Blue Ridge Dam is one of nine other reservoirs considered for water release to improve the overall system flow.
Based on the amount of water stored in those reservoirs, and in relation to the Minimum Operations Guide, TVA will release enough water from Blue Ridge Dam to meet the average minimum flows at Chickamauga Dam.
Additionally, during flood operations, spillway gates across the width of a dam can be opened to release upstream flood water.
TVA recommends taking extra precautions when enjoying the water near one of their dams.
Keep track of the river and lake flow, dam release schedules or gather more information by visiting www.tva.com.